C&S Wholesale may be one of the bidders for the assets of Syracuse's bankrupt Penn Traffic

View full sizeJim Commentucci / The Post StandardThis is the P&C Foods grocery store at Airport Plaza on Rt. 11 in North Syracuse. Tops Markets has reportedly pitched a $90 million offer to Syracuse-based The Penn Traffic Co. for all of its 79 stores.Syracuse, NY -- With an imminent, though malleable, courtroom deadline looming for the bankrupt owner P&C Foods, sources within the supermarket industry are identifying the unnamed bidder with the lowball offer submitted for the acquisition of The Penn Traffic Co.

Also new today: U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer's office confirmed a Post-Standard story stating Penn Traffic's largest lender, GE Capital, has agreed to allow Penn Traffic and the court to extend the deadline to submit potential bids for the company. The bids were supposed to be in by today; instead, bidders will have until the end of January, while Penn Traffic's stores remain open.

Multiple sources within the supermarket industry now say C&S Wholesale Grocers, Penn Traffic's supplier and operator of its three warehouses, is seeking to acquire the whole company for $36.5 million. The sources could not be named because they are still working for Penn Traffic and-or C&S.

It is not the only official bid for Syracuse-based Penn Traffic. Nor is it the highest bid.

Price Chopper is offering to lay out $54 million for 22 P&C stores, including 13 in the Syracuse market. That bid was filed for the court.

Over the weekend, sources close to Tops Markets say the Buffalo-based supermarket chain will pony up $90 million for the entire company. Other sources say that offer was made directly to Penn Traffic, and not through U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., where Penn Traffic's case is being heard. However, the court must approve any bids, including Tops', for Penn Traffic's assets.

Penn Traffic, the operator of 79-supermarkets and employer of 5,700, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from its creditors on Nov. 18. It is the third such filing in 10 years. The company told the court that this time, it wants to sell all or most of its assets by the end of December.

The court and Penn Traffic's creditors, who put the squeeze on the company hurtling it into Chapter 11 protection, have been accommodating.

Late last week, U.S.Sen. Charles Schumer said he phoned the CEO of GE Capital, Penn Traffic's largest lender, to seek a delay in the bid process so more suitors for the company could be sought. GE Capital relented, Schumer's office announced this morning.

"This is very good news for both workers at these stores and for upstate consumers, who deserve good choices and food shopping options,” said Schumer. “It means more time to find a bidder that will keep more stores open, potentially saving thousands of jobs

Ultimately, it will be up to the creditors and finally, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Peter J. Walsh, to determine what will happen to Penn Traffic's assets.

The $36.5 million bid for the company was filed by a team of businesses specializing in the liquidation and-or reorganization of major retailers. That team is representing a buyer whose name has not been revealed in court documents. Penn Traffic has told the court, however, there could be insiders interested in acquiring all of most of its assets.

C&S is an insider. It has a financial investment in Penn Traffic. It acquired Penn Traffic's lucrative wholesale grocery business and operates it out of two warehouses in Syracuse and another in DuBois, Pa. Those warehouses employ Penn Traffic workers.

C&S could choose to find an operator of many or most of Penn Traffic's supermarkets if it could stay on as supplier. It could also use the team of liquidators to dispose of unprofitable stores. Should C&S keep its Upstate supply stream open, it could save the warehouse jobs. C&S has been depleting inventory at the two Syracuse warehouses and shipping it to the DuBois warehouse as the Penn Traffic case goes through the court process, warehouse workers say.

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